Sunday kicked off the first day of International Anti-Street Harassment Week, a week-long effort to challenge the acceptance of gender-based street harassment, and to begin work toward possible solutions. Given the popularity of the Shit People Say video meme that has captivated the web’s imagination in recent months, the organization Stop Street Harassment has created a video to illustrate ways that men can play a role in putting an end to street harassment.

Meghan McCain, daughter of the Republican Arizona Senator John McCain (and former presidential candidate), is appearing in Playboy next month. Though herself a conservative, the young McCain’s approach to politics is much more liberal and candid than her father’s. In the interview that accompanies the photographs (in which she appears fully clothed), McCain opens up about herself with characteristic candor. … Continue Reading

Gina is everything Kevin wants in a woman. She’s funny, sweet, sexy and she doesn’t have qualms about being silly around him. They have more fun together than they do with anyone else, and keep a perfect balance in the pristine little house they share. There’s just one hitch: Gina and Kevin are best friends and roommates, not boyfriend and girlfriend. … Continue Reading

The following words were written by Soraya L. Chemaly, a feminist, writer and media critic. While we’d find it difficult to select only one of her columns as a must read, this is a passage that needs to be read by women the world over. … Continue Reading

The Huffingtom Post has a great video of best-selling young adult author Judy Blume speaking out about reproductive choice in women, hoping to remind this generation what it was like to have no options in her time. It’s a needful reminder — we have the vote and we need to use it, to remind the government that we need to have authority over our bodies and ourselves.

Whether we would ever get an abortion ourselves if it came to that, whether our church supports the use of contraceptives — these should be our choices for us to select according to our consciences and our faith, not for someone to decide for us. … Continue Reading

Our editrix and other X Files fans will be elated to hear that Gillian Anderson, famous for her role as Dana Scully the skeptic, science-minded FBI conspiracy investigator on the hit television series, has come out as bi. This is no ploy to get some media attention — according to Out magazine, Anderson started dating girls when she was in high school. in Michigan. … Continue Reading

You don’t get any more anti-gay than the Family Research Center (FRC), which launched a new campaign recently to save marriage by combating “fake” (i.e., gay) marriages in the United Sates.

“2012 could be the ‘tipping point’ year in the battle for marriage,” their website reads. “The Left has launched the deceptive ‘Commitment Campaign’ to mislead Americans and impose affirmation of same-sex ‘marriage’ — fake marriage — on every state, county, city, school, and workplace. Family Research Council needs your immediate help to tip events for marriage by exposing and opposing the Left’s campaign, which could stop fake ‘marriage’ permanently.” … Continue Reading

Sir Henry Wellcome was a very successful American-born, British entrepreneur in the pharmaceutical industry. During his lifetime, he was an avid collector of artifacts, in particular those related to medicine. But that’s not all he collected. … Continue Reading

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That Steam allows the objectification and sexualization of female characters in a variety of its games but refuses to accept a game about actually engaging with women in a more interactive fashion is astonishingly backward.

That the site doesn’t take measures to protect user content and has shown incompetence or negligence in regard to user privacy, all the while prohibiting victims from warning others about predatory behavior creates an environment where it is nearly impossible for members of the community to take care of themselves and one another. By enabling FetLife to continue espousing a code of silence, allowing the spinning self-created security issues as “attacks,” and not pointing out how disingenuous FetLife statements about safety are, we are allowing our community to become a breeding ground for exploitation.

Should people who benefit (parents, siblings, children, roommates!) from the earnings of “commercial sex acts” (any sexual conduct connected to the giving or receiving of something of value) be charged with human trafficking? Should someone who creates obscene material that is deemed “deviant” be charged as with human trafficking? Should someone who profits from obscene materials be charged with human trafficking? Should people transporting obscene materials be charged with human trafficking? Should a person who engages in sex with someone claiming to be above the age of consent or furnishing a fake ID to this effect be charged with human trafficking? What if I told you the sentences for that kind of conviction were eight, 14 or 20 years in prison, a fine not to exceed $500,000, and life as a registered sex offender?

If you are a woman, you might be given a chance to prove yourself in this community. Since there is no standard definition of what a “geek” is and it will vary from one judge to the next anyway, chances of failing are high (cake and grief counseling will be available after the conclusion of the test!). If you somehow manage to succeed, you’ll be tested again and again by anyone who encounters you until you manage to establish yourself like, say, Felicia Day. But even then, you’ll be questioned. As a woman, your whole existence within the geek community will be nothing but a series of tests — if you’re lucky. If you aren’t lucky, you’ll be harassed and threatened and those within the culture will tacitly agree that you deserve it.

Zak’s original field, it turns out, is economics, a far cry from the hearts and teddy bears we imagine when we consider his nickname. But after performing experiments on generosity, Zak stumbled on the importance of trust in interactions, which led him, rather inevitably, to research about oxytocin. Oxytocin, you might remember, is a hormone that has been linked previously to bonding — between mothers and children primarily, but also between partners. What Zak has done is take the research a step further, arguing in his recent book, The Moral Molecule, that oxytocin plays a role in determining whether we are good or evil.

Let’s talk about the strippers. Whether they like to be half-naked or not, whether they enjoy turning you on or not, there’s one thing they all have in common: they’re working. Whether you think that taking one’s clothes off for money is a great choice of career is really beside the point (is it a possibility for you to make $500 per hour at your job without a law degree? Just asking). These women are providing fantasy, yes, but that is their job. And as a patron of the establishment where they work, you need to treat them like you would anyone else who provides a service to you.

About

Sex and the 405 is what your newspaper would look like if it had a sex section.

Here you’ll find news about the latest research being conducted to figure out what drives desire, passion, and other sex habits; reviews of sex toys, porn and other sexy things; coverage of the latest sex-related news that have our mainstream media's panties up in a bunch; human interest pieces about sex and desire; interviews with people who love sex, or hate sex, or work in sex, or work to enable you to have better sex; opinion pieces that relate to sex and society; and the sex-related side of celebrity gossip. More...